First Gold Medal Special Holiday in Fiji

The Pacific Island nation of Fiji achieved a tremendous feat in this Olympics. They earned their first Olympic medal in the history of their country when on Friday its rugby team defeated Britain. And as fate would have it, their first medal in the Olympics turned out to be Gold. The country erupted with the news of such an achievement. The amount of joy that spread amongst the people was beyond every level of joy.

The Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama announced a public holiday for celebrating this glorious occasion. This island nation won the country’s first Olympic medal after its rugby sevens team beat the Great Britain team. The Prime Minister of Fiji, Frank Bainimarama even extended the holiday one day further to let people properly celebrate this day. This is such a momentous moment for people all around Fiji. He approved and proposed of another day of holiday after the holiday went on for three days.

He even went on to record saying to the reporters.”We’ve got celebrations programmed for when the team returns. We are all proud to be Fijians right now.” He repeatedly mentioned about the wonderful reception which is in store for the players once they return home. He also insinuated about the players and British coach Ben Ryan getting substantial rewards too. And also hoped the coach will stay with them and get back to work after celebrations are done and dusted. It is very evident that the Fijian spirit has never soared so high as it does today.

Though Fiji’s had previous triumphs in international competitions still the glory wasn’t as big as this. This very rugby of Fiji won back to back World Series in the last two years. Though very prestigious it wasn’t as prestigious as the Olympics. Fiji has a mere population of around 900,000. Still it punched above its weight in international rugby, particularly in the sevens game. This very format of the game rewards the pace, power and skill.

It is also the second ever Olympic medal won by a South Pacific island nation. This Olympic medal preceded the silver medal which was earned by Tongan boxer Paea Wolfgramm. Paea Wolfgramm lost the super-heavyweight final at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

The South Pacific island came to a standstill at the start of the rugby sevens final against Britain. National Stadium in Fiji with the capacity of around 15000 people was fully jam packed as the game was shown there live on the big screen. Fiji scored first after just 55seconds. By half-time the fireworks had started as Fiji led 29-0 at that point. Eventually they won emphatically and thrashed their opponents with a score of 43-7. The stadium and the nearby places erupted with gorging noise as the final whistle blew. Fans went nuts as their created history.

As the final whistle blew, people of all sorts of this country went out to the streets of Suva with the Fiji flag. They were dancing and running from one end to the other. The celebration was so massive and widespread that part of the city’s capital Suva’s bustling Victoria Parade was closed as fans danced in the street with utmost joy.

This massive achievement will always be remembered with utmost pride and glory till time remains. No matter how many gold medals they earn in the future days this gold medal will always be the most special one in their history.